Happy Halloween

Morning All and Happy Halloween

Just wanted to drop you all a short message and I know lots of you are gigging tonight and last night so hope it all went/will go well. We are still working through our review requests but make sure you let us know if you have any new stuff you want us to listen to.

Quick tip: Halloween is a great night to create an "event" as opposed to a gig. People love a reason to dress up (especially students) so why not make it a fancy dress gig. Get the venue involved with apple bobbing, special drinks and prizes. You could even throw in a "spooky cover" of MJ's Thriller!

Think outside the box and make an event not just a gig!

See you soon

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BA

Got What it takes?

Hi All

So, a few people have contacted us and class themselves as “jobbing musicians” – people who just do must. So here’s a few tips for you serial muso types!

Being a musician is awesome. It’s almost a crime that people are allowed to play music for a living. But like crime, music doesn’t usually pay. To get the gigs that pay, and keep getting them, musicians need to exude a high level of professionalism that is often a lot less glamorous than the sexy life of a rock star. While these qualities might seem obvious, you’d be surprised at how many prima donnas out there don’t get it.

1) Follows directions well.

Because most musicians make a living playing music for other people, they have to be good at doing what those people want. If that sounds vague, it is. Whether you’re hired to play a wedding, write a jingle, perform as a sideman, be a studio musician, be a pit musician on Broadway (or your local community theater), you have to be good at taking directions.
More often than not, those directions are poorly communicated by people that don’t know music, but a professional musician knows how to translate any kind of instruction quickly, without getting frustrated, and make the client happy. Other times you’re getting quick directions from a music director that knows exactly what she wants, and your ability to adapt quickly is key. These are one way communications where there’s either no time to ask questions. Performing well in this type of scenario will get you recommendations and ultimately more work.

2) Well organized.

In a nutshell, keep a calendar and learn how to tell time. There’s nothing more frustrating or embarrassing than tardiness. In a world of great players scraping together £50 gigs to make ends meet, schedules are usually both busy and erratic. Everyone is trying to squeeze a rehearsal in before teaching a lesson and then get to a gig later that night. But if you can’t keep track of everything and be where you need to be on time, you’ll lose work. Plain and simple.
Additionally, you will probably need to keep track of a large amount of material. Many sidemen play in multiple bands and have to learn both original music by songwriters that hire them, and cover songs for weddings or corporate gigs. Storing all this music in your head gets easier with practice, but in the beginning you’ll need to learn how to organize it.
There’s a saying among musicians that goes something like this:
An amateur practices until he gets it right, a professional practices until he never gets it wrong.

3) Good communication skills.

When dealing with people that don’t know anything about music and not much more about the business, you have to be able to lead most of the conversation. Offer suggestions, draw up contracts, and know how to say what you want without coming off as brash or greedy. Don’t be too proud to ask questions.
At the other end of the spectrum you’ll be dealing with other musicians. Show up to the first rehearsal with the music prepared. If it’s your gig or you are the music director, make sure your music is written neatly or created in a program like Finale or Sibelius. Make sure the sheet music communicates the road map of the tune clearly (repeats, coda, etc.). If you expect the other musicians to learn from a CD or MP3s, make sure they have the proper tracks and are aware of any key changes or cuts that are not on the recordings. These things will make the first rehearsal run as smoothly as possible.

4) Plays well with others.

This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised. Not only should you be able to play your butt off, you should be able to tone it down and play what’s called for in the music. Stereotypically speaking, guitar players are notorious for turning their amps up too loud and never shutting up. Singers zone out when they’re not singing and miss their entrances. Drummers are too loud. Horn players don’t listen to each other and sound sloppy as a whole section. This is all Music 101, but it’s often over looked.
While it’s very important to nail your solo, it’s more important to blend in with the ensemble or make the soloist sound better. Playing tastefully and in the appropriate style will get you more calls than being able to shred.

5) Prepared for the job.

Ultimately, the big difference between a professional and everyone else is preparation. This is the same in any field. A professional salesman is expected to know his product. A professional marketer is expected to know her target audience. A professional custodian is expected to know what kind of cleaner to use on what surface. Likewise, a professional musician is expected to show up for the gig with the right instruments, dressed appropriately, and prepared to nail the music. Let me repeat part of that. A professional musician dresses appropriately. Whatever the gig, make sure you know what to wear. Flip flops are probably a bad idea unless a grass skirt is involved.

In summary, if you want to establish yourself as a professional musician, step back and evaluate these five qualities. Music is a highly competitive field, and mastering your instrument is simply the first step to becoming a working musician. For those that want to take their craft to the next level, the thing that sets professionals apart from the rest is what they can do beyond playing their instrument.

Band Practice Tip

Get in Formation

We've all heard the old adage that you perform how you practice and that is certainly true. One thing some bands do to improve their rehearsals and shows is literally practice like you are playing a show. This means setting up the band room how you would be set up on stage. When my band used this technique I found us to be much more efficient on stage at shows because I was used to my surroundings and very comfortable with where everyone was. If you spend two months of rehearsal looking face to face at the drummer for cues to the changes and then you get on stage and you're not facing him anymore, there is a good chance you're going to feel a little disconcerted and possible miss some things. Knowing where everyone is on stage will make you that much more relaxed during shows which can be a big help.

Your Stuff is Being Stolen

Today, it is almost a given that STUFF you create will easily be copied and used by other people via the internet. And the BETTER your STUFF is, the MORE LIKELY it is to be copied. This applies to music, photographs, lyrics, poetry, trademarks and all varieties of creative stuff.

If you discover that your stuff is being used by someone else on their website, MySpace page or YouTube posting, it’s a good idea to contact the poacher and let them know that it’s YOUR STUFF they are using and let them know how you want them to treat your stuff. The treatment you request can range from:
* asking them to stop using your stuff and remove it from their site,
* asking for credit for your stuff,
* letting them how they can buy your stuff (if it’s for sale.)

The best case scenario is that you know the person using your stuff and can easily reach out to them to work out how and if you want your stuff used by them. Most of the time however, you may not know the person… BUT don’t rush to attack them too violently… because, these poachers could become your NEWEST and BIGGEST fans. Keep this in mind when you reach out to them, and make a pitch to sell your stuff (ie promote your upcoming gigs and CD’s) at the same time that you ask them to refrain from poaching. About 90% of the time, it’s possible to make this extra sale.

The worst case scenario is that the poacher ignores your attempts to contact them and continues using your stuff. If this happens, look through the ‘Terms of Service’ for the host website and follow the instructions it gives for notifying them of illegal use of copyrighted or trademarked property. To find the relevant Terms of Service, run an internet search on the hosting website’s Terms of Service. (for example: ‘MySpace Terms of Service’)

Be diligent and keep tabs on how and who is using your stuff!!

Get that gig

Doing live shows is an important part of anyone’s music career, it’s a great way of meeting your fans face to face and allowing them a different kind of contact with you. It’s also a great place to make CD sales and build up life long fans, as if you impress with a performance you’ve got a lot of power at that moment.

A problem many musicians face however is being able to get gigs to perform at. If you’ve never performed at a show before, what proof have you got to show venues you’re worth hiring? Thankfully there are ways around that, which is what I’m going to share with you in this article. May I say though, if you’ve never done a show before and are nervous about the whole thing, check out our post on dealing with gig nerves. There’s some good tips in there about getting shows to practice your live performances too, so have a look. But anyway, here are how to get your band booked (Also works for solo musicians).

Find Suitable Locations To Perform At

The first thing you need to do is compile a list of venues you would be willing to perform at. This may be because the venue has acts that play your style of music, or because you think it would be easily obtainable. Whatever the reason, list down the venue and the reason why you’ve chose it. It’d be easier if you categorise this list straight away, as this list will be one that you could potentially use throughout your career (Adding as you go along of course). You don’t want to make your list of venues too unrealistic, for example you#re not going to get to play the biggest venues in your country straight away. It is however realistic to play at popular local venues if you approach the venue right, so note them down.

You’ll want to note down all different types of venues, from clubs, to venues that run showcase nights, and maybe even raves. Places that do themed night and pubs also accept live acts sometimes, so don’t narrow your vision and only think about approaching the standard venues everyone else plays at. The good thing about thinking outside the box is that some of these places will actually pay non established acts where the ‘bait’ venues won’t. This is because these regular venues are over saturated with acts trying to perform there every week, so they don’t need to pay to get acts. Non conventional venues sometimes do.

Once you have a nice list of places you can potentially play at, the next stage is to find out how to get in contact with them.

Find The Venue’s Contact Details

This stage can be done while looking for places for your band booked to gig at. It’s best to get as many contact details for the venue as possible, you’ll be needing their name, their address, their phone number, and the email addresses for the people who take bookings (Or a general one if you can’t find that). Once again, add these to your files about venues you can get gigs at. Now we’ve got a selection of contact details, and we hopefully know who to talk to, we can approach the venue.

Approach The Club Or Venue

When it comes to approaching the venue, remember that you’re approaching them with a business proposition. That means you have to approach them in a professional manner, looking neat (If you’re meeting them in person) and talking to them in a respectful manner. Now I’m not saying you have to turn into something you’re not, you don’t have to meet them dressed in a suit if your look is more casual (You’re an independent musician after all, not a city worker). However, you should be aware that if you look a mess or act in an unattractive way, there’s very little chance they’ll want you to perform at and represent their venue.

So, what’s the best way to try to get shows for your band? I’d always advice ringing them first. If you phone them up and tell them you’re a musician who’s currently willing to perform at venues you can usually tell whether the venue is looking for performers or not. If they’re not, they’ll usually let you no very swiftly. If they are but is open to select people, you’ll have time to get in your sales pitch. If you impress with that, they may offer you a chance to come in and give in your demo or audition. If you fail to impress with your pitch, they’ll probably let you down.

Not all venues you ring will lead to anything else, in fact a lot of them probably won’t. But even if only a few do it’s been well worth your time. Getting your first few shows are the most important, as once you’ve got a few shows under your belt you’ll have leverage. You can then quote having performed at these venues when applying to do other gigs, and each time you do a bigger venue you can get a bigger one of the back of that.

Those venues that don’t want to let you perform, don’t scrub them off your list. As you get more well known, there’s a chance that these places will book you for gigs then.

If the venue’s local to you and you want to perform at a specific night, another option is to turn up at the relevant night with a demo. The night’s promoter or manager should be there looking over things, so find them and let them know you’d be willing to perform at their night. Give them your demo along with contact details and see what the response is.

Auditioning For Shows

Some venues will ask you to simply to give in a demo as an audition, and you should give them a copy of the tune you want to perform. In fact, you may want to give them a look at a few songs you could potentially perform and let them choose which ones are most suitable for the event they’re going to put on. Some places will want you to actually do a live audition to perform.

If you get a live audition, always make sure you go prepared. Make sure you’re punctual to the venue, and have all the material you need to carry out your trial successfully. Make sure you’ve rehearsed fully, and are ready for anything.

Once your audition is finished, they should usually be able to tell you if you were successful straight away. Sometimes however they may need to contact you at a later date so make sure they have your up to date contact details. Try and find out when they’re likely to contact you buy, and if you haven’t heard from them a day or two after that make sure you chase them up and find out what’s going on. Don’t harass them however, as annoy them and you’ve little chance of getting booked for the gig.

Join us on Facebook

Hello All
Just a quick one - we have joined Facebook. It is very early days but we need some friends. This will be a great place to interact with us and other acts in the same boat plus an awesome place to advertise.

Click Here

Raising the Bar

When I work with musicians both professional, part-time, and amateur more often than not they all have something in common. That is they are not marketing themselves to the outside world. Sure, some carry their business card and a few have a website. There are a few with a demo or even a CD they have recorded. The real problem is that they do not have a cohesive plan for raising their profile to meet their own goals.

A professional musician does not automatically get playing jobs. The phone isn’t ringing off the hook for their services. More often than not the person hiring the musician has people that he or she works with and knows. Going with an unknown or a new player is often not the first choice for the music director or contractor.

A part-time or amateur musician can really benefit from raising the profile especially if they want to acquire more playing jobs or move from volunteer work to paying jobs.

Word of mouth has its place and can be very helpful. The bottom line is that the musician needs to take steps to get out there and make themselves known to the world at large. That means developing and implementing a cohesive marketing plan and implementing it.

And don’t forget BA is your free resource so if you need any advice or tips just get in touch!!
Till next time!

F@*K the Press - Never Trust a Journalist!

Only Joking, the press used to be known as the enemy but for the unsigned acts they will pretty much be your best friend. However you need to go into interviews and press pieces with your eyes open. The amount of acts I have interviewed who mumble, giggle or sit in silence when you interview them is incredible. To be totally honest about 50-75% of the interviews I undertake I simply can’t do anything with. Again, to make it in this business you need to have a certain level of professionalism.

There are 2 core things that you need to keep in your mind every time you do an interview. Firstly and most importantly what do you want to get out of the interview? What is your aim? Secondly you need to think about why the press person is interviewing you and what do they want to get from you? The second part is usually pretty easy, they want readers to be interested in what you say and ultimately push their Magazine, Fanzine, etc. So they want interest and entertainment. The first part is core for you. What do you need to let them know? Are you playing a gig soon, hosting and event, releasing a CD – you simply must get this across and always have something to talk about.

To be totally honest you will always get a set of pretty similar questions but the true pro will do their home work. Read the publications previous interviews and prepare answers (loosely, don’t learn them parrot fashion). Have a few anecdotes to roll out, a few gig stories, a few interesting facts – sure you will end up rolling these out in most interviews but if you keep reinforcing your image people and potential fans will start to become familiar with you.
More Soon

The flying hip hop circus bats tied to the cage that breaks the dam with a 1000 lost souls uniting for the end of tims with the saving grace of all...

Long Band Names

I don’t recommend giving your band an excessively long name. I’m not referring to names with two parts like "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers"or "Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention" that flow — but rather the flat-out, unnecessarily long band names.
Here are some examples:

· When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water (9 words, 49 characters)
· The Presidents of the United States of America (8 words, 46 characters)
· …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (10 words, 44 characters including ellipsis)
· I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness (7 words, 35 characters)
· I Can Lick Any SOB In The House (8 words, 31 characters)

While "The Presidents of the United States of America" can be nicknamed and referenced as "The Presidents,"the rest of the names don’t have a lot of options unless you want to go the Excessively Long Acronym route.Here are some reasons to avoid a long name for your band:

· Does not flow in conversation
· Can be difficult to remember
· Often does not sound like a band name
· Website domain name will need to be different than your name (unless you want to make the mistake of using the actual long version) Note: There is a 67-character limit on domain names

I’d like to add that the occasional song or album with a long name is okay, but Fiona Apple went too far with her "When the Pawn" album title that is 450+ characters in length!

What do you guys think? Do they work?

Any other long band names that are worth noting?

Do you have a long-winded band name?

Its too LOOOOOUUUUDDDD!!!!!

Someone always plays too loud at band practice. It is one of those things that tears bands apart and makes band members hate one another. This is sad and we can add it to the long list of easy things to avoid that can be taken care of very easily. If someone is playing too loud the first thing to do is take it back to square one. Have only the drummer play and then add the main chord change instrument (probably rhythm guitar). Slowly turn the chord change instrument up until you have a good level. Then one by one add each new instrument and repeat this procedure until everyone is happy with the levels.

At times this is going to mean some people need to stand closer to their own amps or move them up to ear level to compensate for hearing loss and/or ego problems. This easy technique can make you sound better as well as save your bands relationship.

Top Tips on Recording Keyboards

Recording synths can be one of the most fun but sometimes excruciating experiences. Trying to get just what you want takes years to learn. We have assembled some tips from our years tweaking synths that are simple tips that make a big difference.

1. Split Up The Hands. Often times two hands of keyboard can be a little much in the mix. Record the two hands separately and see if both voicings are needed.

2. Play With The Sustain Pedal. Even on some Instruments you wouldn't expect, this can give you a sound you would never imagine. This can a tiny bit of magic you didn't think of before.

3. Record With A Preset, Tweak It After. One of the things amazing programmers do is get the sound in the ballpark with a preset and then tweak it later on and fine tune all the cool details after the part is recorded.

4. Try A Different Octave. Experiment with the octave the keyboards are played in. The movement up or down an octave can open up a mix and free it of clutter.

5. Watch Your Releases. One of the thing that separates the men from the boys in the keyboard department is being neat with when you let go of the keys. While many can play notes on time, finnesing when you let go of each note is what makes a part really shine.

6. Check Your Image. Many synth patches aren't real stereo. Put your signal in mono and flip the phase on one side and make sure your synth patch isn't take up an unnecessary tracks and DSP.

7. Does It Need To Be Stereo? While many synth patches are true stereo with interesting image variations. Panning every synth in stereo will leave little room in your mix. Bounce or pan some synths to mono as you need to.

8. Use Filters. High pass and low pass filters are two of your biggest friends in getting synths to fit in a mix. Learn to tweak them as best you can for improved results.

9. Record Dry. Many synths can have cheap reverbs and delays on them. If you aren't in love with the effects on a synth patch take it off and apply them in the mix.

10. One Is Enough. One of the biggest beginner mistakes is to layers numerous synths on top of every part. Try to make all of your synths work with just one or two playing each part. Anything more can be a clutered mess.